Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Wildlands review

Yes, Ubisoft is doing another Tom Clancy title and this time it's adding another instalment to its Ghost Recon franchise with Wildlands. Announced right at the end of Ubisoft's E3 2015 press conference, the tactical shooter will be the first in the series to offer combat in an open world. Now if there's anyone that has experience of making open world games, then Ubisoft pretty much has it covered.

In Wildlands, it's the story of a team of Ghosts whose mission is to take down a Santa Blanca drug cartel in Bolivia. It's been three years in the works and the game's producers tell me that anywhere you can see in the game, you can go to. You can do it solo or in four player co-op approaching missions and objectives from all directions.

In the live gameplay demo I got to see, the development team show me how the four player co-op action plays out. Set a few years from now, the mission is to locate one Luis 'El Chango' Alvarez. Before trying to capture Alvarez you need to hunt down a local cartel and get intel on the layout of the prison to make infiltrating it a little less complicated.

All four players take alternative routes to the location. One by foot, another by motorbike, all from different types of terrain. The choice is up to you. There's cars, boats, buggies and a whole lot more ways to get around. If you can see it, you can hijack it and ride it to the next destination.

In the first scenario, our four ghosts approach from different directions and just one decides to take out the group of cartel members in stealth mode before locating the ring leader and getting the information. Conveniently, there's a helicopter nearby so all four can jump in. It's here you can begin to appreciate the scale of the vast world that Ubisoft has created for the game.

Reaching the location, two of the team decide to hang back and offer support if things go wrong. The other two two base jump out of the chopper landing by parachute near to the location. It's at this point that we see the part played by using drones to survey the area. You can locate enemies and their positions to reveal the quickest and safest route to the target. It also shows you the level of complexity and detail that goes into building villages, of which there will be hundreds to explore.

Sneaking around towards the prison cage where Alvarez is being kept, the two Ghosts perform a synchornized stealth kill on two soldiers. Pulling Alvarez out of his cell, the Ghost holds a gun to his head giving youthe option to kill him if he puts up a fight.

It's at this point that one of the guards spots you and raises the alarm. Fortunately, you've got back up from the chopper as it opens fire and allows you to steal a car and drive away towards salt flats. When safely away from danger you pull Alvarez out of the boot of the car and escort him to the waiting helicopter. All while the other Ghosts take alternative routes away from the danger zone.

First impressions

Ghost Recon Wildlands feels very familiar and that's because it clearly draws inspiration from a few games including GTA's Heist mode and Far Cry's co-op gameplay. This is every bit a Ubisoft game and you can see it in the detail and the slick presentation of the South American location. For Ghost Recon fans, it will be interesting to see how much of what made the original games so appealing remains when it launches next year.

Right now, it looks like a lot of fun in co-op mode and if it's as open world as some of Ubisoft's other titles, it's going to be a great place explore. Plus, who doesn't like hunting down drug cartels?